Gippsland Mercury (Sale, Vic. : 1871 - 1872; 1874 - 1886; 1888 -1894; 1914 - 1918), Tuesday 24 February 1914, page 4


OBITUARY FRILLS, Our Melbourne correspondent writes: of newspapers must often wonder when they read death notices in the advertisement columns how it is that such very important people have been allowed to live unnoticed and unhonoured in the community so long. Quite recently the advertise-ment clerk of a big metropolitan daily took in a long death notice, in which it was set out that the dear departed was the son of so and so, the grand-son of so and so, and apparently he and his immediate ancestors were people of very considerable import-ance. So much was the sub-editor of the Journal in question impressed by the advertisement, that a reporter was told off the next day to hunt up the career of the deceased great man, and write a paragraph about it. Alas, for the foundations of human glory. The captains whose names were so plenty-fully besprinkled in the obituary ad-vertisement turned out to have been captains of shifts in mines, with the exception of one of them, who had charge of a stone barge down Foots-cray way; while the hero of the story, who was said in the advertisement to have been for many years a valued servant of a great public body, cer-tainly had been employed about the building in a very humble capacity, his services being remunerated by a payment of about 50/ a week. Yet, to read that advertisement, one would think the Court Circular and Debrett's Peerage would become blank paper if all references to the deceased gentle-man and his family were omitted.